The United States and Mexico at War

Chapter 12

The 28th State

• Mexico still refused to accept the Treaties of Velasco

• The United States accepted Texas’s southern border as the Rio Grande

• Mexico still claimed all of Texas, with the border of Texas and Mexico as the Nueces River

Manifest Destiny

• The U.S. ultimately wanted to gain control of California and all the lands between Texas and the Pacific coast

The Threat of War

• When Texas was annexed Mexico threatened war• President Polk sent John Slidell to Mexico

– U.S. residents filed claims against Mexico for damage to their property

– Slidell offered that the U.S. would pay for these damages if Mexico would recognize Texas as part of the U.S. and transfer California and all the land between Texas and California to the U.S.

– This offened Mexican officials• Some U.S. citizens did not want the territories controlled by

Mexico-they feared the U.S. wanted this land, and Texas, in order to expand slavery

Fighting Breaks Out

*The U.S. placed troops, under General Zachary Taylor, along the Nueces River and Mexico placed troops, under General Mariano Arista, along the Rio Grande

*When Mexico refused to discuss matters with Slidell U.S. troops moved to the Rio Grande

*Fighting began in the disputed territory just north of the Rio Grande and south of the Nueces River

*Both General Taylor and General Arista sent messages to their governments claiming that they had been fired upon on their own nations soil

The War with Mexico

* General Arista’a army moved north toward the U.S. troops

-The two groups battled at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, with the U.S. claiming victory at both location

* The U.S. declares war with Mexico on May 13, 1846, at President James K. Polk’s urging

* After a fierce battle in Mexico City the U.S. forces occupy the city

* Many Texans eagerly took part in the battle as a way to “Remember the Alamo”, and to settle arguments over the men of the Mier expedition who were put in prison

* The Texas Rangers played a big part in the war, scouting for the U.S. army

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

•The treaty was signed on February 2, 1848

•Mexico agreed that Texas was now party of the U.S.

•Mexico surrendered all land between Texas and the Pacific Ocean; this transfer of land was known as the Mexican Cession, and included California, and all or part of the future states of New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado

•In return the United States paid Mexico $15 million

•The U.S. also took over claims by U.S. citizens against Mexico

Texas-New Mexico Dispute

* The Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago established the Rio Grande as Texas’s southern border-but there was dispute of Texas’s western border

* The Rio Grande continued through El Paso, through central New Mexico, to its source in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado

* This would place almost half of New Mexico, including its largest city and capital, Santa Fe in Texas

* New Mexicans had close ties to Mexico and were still angry that Mirabeau Lamar had tired to control the area

Texas’s Efforts to Gain Control Over New Mexico

•To strengthen Texas’s claims to New Mexico the state legislature created new counties in the disputed area

•Texas Governor, George Thomas Wood, sent Texas Ranger Robert S. Neighbors to organize the counties

•Neighbors was only able to persuade El Paso to agree that they were part of Texas

Disagreements over Slavery and Territories

•When Zachary Taylor won the presidency of the U.S. in 1848, he agreed to support the admission of California to the Union as a free state (or a state that did not permit slavery)

• However California as a free state would upset the balance of free and slave states

• For that reason pro-slavery states did not want California to be admitted

• The residents of Utah and New Mexico wanted their territories to be admitted to the Union

•How far Texas extended west added to the controversy over slavery-because it was a slave state many people wanted its borders to be limited

Disagreements over Slavery and Territories

•President Taylor demanded that California be admitted right away-he argued that the residents of California were struggling with problems after the Gold Rush of 1848 and were in need of a state government for stability

•Many representatives in Congress wanted to wait until the issue of slavery in all the territories had been settled

•Southern members of Congress also wanted a federal law to provide help finding runaway slaves-this law became known as the Fugitive Slave Law

Disagreements over Slavery and Territories

•Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky offered a compromise

•Immediate admission of California as a free state

•The organization of the New Mexico and Utah territories-and the residents of these territories would decide the question of slavery on their own

•The abolition of slave trade in Washington D.C.

•The enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law

•Texas would give up about 40% of its western lands in exchange for $10 million

The Compromise of 1850

•President Taylor demanded the Congress admit California to the Union before he would respond to Clay’s proposals

•The situation was resolved when President Taylor died in 1850 and Vice-President Millard Fillmore assumed the presidency

•Congress passed the Compromise of 1850: California became a state, New Mexico and Utah became territories, the slave trade in Washington D.C. ended and the south received its Fugitive Slave Law

The Texas and New Mexico Act of September 9, 1850

•Texas gave up some of its land to the north and west

•In return Texas received $10 million

•This act created Texas’s present-day border

•While some Texans were not in favor of surrendering so much territory, others realized that the state needed the money more than it needed the land

The Compromise of 1850